For the first time in its long history, the 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field will have a female commander.

“Becoming the 21st commander of the 186th Air Refueling Wing is such a great honor,” said Col. Cynthia Smith, who was named commander of the unit during a change of command ceremony on Saturday. Smith succeeds Col. Edward Evans, who began serving as commander in 2017.

Smith is a KC-135R aircraft pilot with more than 3,200 flight hours, including more than 450 combat/combat support hours. In 2014, she became the 186th Operational Support Squadron commander and assumed command of the 153rd Air Refueling Squadron in 2018.

She’s served on multiple tours overseas in support of operations Joint/ Deliberate Forge, DenyFlight, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Inherent Resolve, and Freedom Sentinel, according to a news release.  

Smith said she became interested in aviation as a young child.

“I grew up in Meridian during the 80s, and like a lot of other kids my age, I wanted to be an astronaut,” she recalled. “So the first step was becoming a pilot.”

She joined the Mississippi Air National Guard in 1998, after graduating from Delta State University with a degree in commercial aviation with a concentration in both flight operations and aviation management.

“This is the unit that I grew up in, so to speak,” Smith says of her time at Key Field. “I joined almost 25 years ago; this unit has become my family. I cannot say enough about their professionalism and what an honor it is to be working with them.”

Evans, the outgoing commander, will take on a new role as the A3, Director of Operations for the Mississippi Air National Guard at the Joint Force Headquarters in Jackson.

He described serving at Key Field as “an honor.”

“I’m just extremely grateful for the opportunity I had here at Key Field,” he said. “The men and women have been great.”